Doctor Who is a long-running television program produced by the BBC about a mysterious time-travelling adventurer known only as "The Doctor", a Time Lord from the planet of Gallifrey, who explores time and space with various companions (primarily human females) in his TARDIS. It is currently the longest-running science-fiction series broadcast on television, spanning twenty-six years on its original run, and 12 actors have headlined the series as the Doctor. As a complete list of quotations from all eras of the show is too large to be contained on one page, this article has been split into subarticles, with quotations organised by which actor was portraying the Doctor at the time the episode was originally broadcast.

Russell T. Davies, responding to the question, "Why do you think people love Doctor Who so much?" on BBC Wales Today (20 July 2004)

I would have loved to have done a Star Trek crossover. The very first year, we talked about it. Then Star Trek finally went off air. Landing the Tardis on board the Enterprise would have been magnificent. Can you imagine what their script department would have wanted, and what I would have wanted? It would have been the biggest battle.

Harlan Ellison, recalling an address to science-fiction fans, in his Introduction to Doctor Who and the Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977) by Terrance Dicks, p. vii

In 1963 the BBC premiered a show about an alien
Who traveled through space and time to combat the powers of evil. …
The show has been running in Britain almost fifty years,
with many different actors in the role of The Doctor. …
One thing is consistent though and this is why the show is so beloved by geeks and nerds —It's all about the triumph of intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism!Intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism!And if there is any hope for any of us in this giant explosion in which we inhabit then surely that’s it:
Intellect and romance triumph over brute force and cynicism!

I don't know what it's like to be God — obviously …until that very first moment when you get to sit down and type the words in your script: INTERIOR. TARDIS. … Suddenly I got a very good idea of what it must feel like. I went: "I'm writing it now this scene in the Tardis. I'm writing it!" And that was amazing, it was wonderful.

Neil Gaiman, as quoted in "Neil Gaiman reveals power of writing Doctor Who" by Tim Masters at BBC News (24 May 2010)

No, look, there's a blue box. It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. It can go anywhere in time and space and sometimes even where it's meant to go. And when it turns up, there's a bloke in it called The Doctor and there will be stuff wrong and he will do his best to sort it out and he will probably succeed cos he’s awesome. Now sit down, shut up, and watch ‘Blink’.

I don't know what it's like to be God — obviously …until that very first moment when you get to sit down and type the words in your script: INTERIOR. TARDIS. … Suddenly I got a very good idea of what it must feel like. I went: "I'm writing it now this scene in the Tardis. I'm writing it!" And that was amazing, it was wonderful.

When Russell T Davies relaunched the show in 2005, I watched it from the start. I thought it was fantastic. If there's any secret to its resurgence, it's due to the show's complete lack of cynicism. Both Davies and Steven Moffat are lifelong Doctor Who fans and the love shines through every episode.

Peter Jackson, in "Lord of the Whovians" in Entertainment Weekly (29 March 2013), p. 37

Last year Matt Smith was asked by a Kiwi journailist if they would ever film an episode in New Zealand, and he said, "Yes, and we can get Peter Jackson to direct it." The newspaper contacted me for comment and I said "Great, just name a time and place and I'll be there." I suspect Steven Moffat thinks I'm joking, but I saw him at Christmas and I assured him I'm not. They don't even have to pay me — but I have got my eye on one of those nice new gold-colored Daleks. They must have a spare one (hint, hint).

Peter Jackson, in "Lord of the Whovians" in Entertainment Weekly (29 March 2013), p. 37

In their book-length analysis of Doctor Who, John Tulloch and Manuel Alvarado characterize the political outlook of the program as consistent with the BBC's particular brand of politicalneutrality: skeptical, aggressive, quizzical, and amused towards all forms of political power. In Doctor Who the attitude gets further flavored by the Doctors "Romantic" hero mystique. This characteristic allows him to adopt a "liberal-populist role in criticizing 'sectionalist' forces of 'Left' and 'Right,' and in rebuking the 'official' and the powerful, whether in big business, the military, government or 'militant' unions." … The political form that most resembles these critiques is liberal democracy, which places sovereignty in the hands of the people.

David Layton, referring to Doctor Who : The Unfolding Text (1984) by John Tulloch and Manuel Alvarado, in The Humanism of Doctor Who : A Critical Study in Science Fiction and Philosophy (2012), Ch. 10 : Politics

What would be the point of having this job if I didn't get to make up some of the maddest possible scenes I've ever had in my head since I was a kid? For him to stand there and take the mickey out of all those monsters — is just hugely exciting.

A lot of our heroes depress me. But you know, when they made this particular hero, they didn't give him a gun, they gave him a screwdriver to fix things. They didn't give him a tank or a warship or an X-wing fighter, they gave him a call box from which you can call for help. And they didn't give him a superpower or pointy ears or a heat ray...they gave him two hearts. And that's an extraordinary thing. There will never come a time when we don't need a hero like the Doctor.

At a later stage, Dr Who would be metamorphosed into a woman. Don’t you agree that this is considerably more worthy of the BBC than Doctor Who’s presently largely socially valueless, escapist schlock? This requires some considerable thought – mainly because I want to avoid a flashy Hollywood ‘Wonder Woman’ because this kind of hero(ine) has no flaws – and a character with no flaws is a bore. ː Should you accept these ideas the fee I would accept would be in the form of my being taken on and paid to be its executive director to ensure the concept is properly executed

Given more time than I have now, I can create such a character.”

Doctor Who was really the culmination of almost all my interests in life: I wanted to reflect contemporary society; I was curious about the outer-space stuff; and also, of course, being a children’s programme, it had to have a high educational content. Up to the age of forty, I don’t think there was a science fiction book I hadn’t read. I love them because they’re a marvellous way – a safe way – of saying nasty things about our own society. I’d read H.G. Wells, of course, and I recalled his book ‘The Time Machine’. That inspired me to dream up the time-space machine for ‘Doctor Who’. It was a great device which allowed my audience to be taken to outer space, to elsewhere in the world today, or back into the past.

I then dreamed up this senile old man of 740 years of age to be the running character. He has fled in terror from another planet in this spaceship which lands on Earth in the form of a police box. He’s wandering around in the London fog when he’s met by two school teachers who are walking home one of their pupils. They help him to what they think is his house, but it’s a police telephone box in a junkyard! But inside, it’s really a vast spaceship! However, this dim old guy doesn’t know how to operate the machine, presses the wrong button and they take off. And that was the idea.

Because it’s got that cross-generational appeal, which few other things have. It’s not a working-class thing, it’s not a middle-class thing. The competition winner from Doctor Who magazine was on set today, a 15-year-old girl. When I was a kid, 15-year-old girls didn’t watch Doctor Who.

The Doctor is the main character of the television show Doctor Who. Although bearing remarkably human-like features, he is a Gallifreyan Time Lord — one of a mysterious alien race that has mastered time travel. The Doctor occasionally regenerates into a new form, allowing a new actor to step into the role. For clarity's sake, quotes from the show are listed by Doctor on the following subpages.